2026
Rather than documenting the city of Iași through direct observation, Arturo Arvizu interacts with it through a process that combines existing visual references, algorithmic interpretation, and artistic intuition. The result is a series of urban scenarios in constant transformation, in which familiar elements of the city dissolve, reconfigure, and reappear as possible alternatives to urban space.
In this context, artificial intelligence functions as a catalyst for creativity. It generates images that go beyond the artist’s immediate control and opens up a space where calculation, imagination, and aesthetic decision intersect. The artist’s role is to generate, select, and shape these visual proposals, transforming the algorithmic results into speculative visions of urban life, into suggestions of what life in the city could look like.
The work Iași2100 invites viewers to reflect on how cities can be reimagined through technological mediation and creative experimentation. Iași appears here as a field of possible transformations, an imaginary territory where memory, data and artistic creativity meet to suggest possible versions of ourselves.
Curator
Cristiana Ursache
Artist
Arturo Arvizu
After over fourteen solo exhibitions and nearly four decades of painting, this artist approaches art as an open and evolving journey – one guided by curiosity, intuition and continuous discovery. For them, painting has become more than a practice; it is a way to understand both the self and one’s place in the world.
A sense of wonder has always been essential to their work. Over time, their attention has turned to the subtle and often unseen – hidden symbols, quiet signals and energies that seem to exist beyond ordinary perception and language. Their paintings explore this delicate territory between the visible and the invisible, where intuition, coincidence and meaning intersect.
For the artist, painting sometimes feels like touching something larger than the self – moments when time briefly dissolves and clarity emerges. At the same time, their work reflects an awareness of how human perception shapes reality, inviting viewers to question what lies beyond the boundaries of what we normally understand.
Recently, the artist has begun to explore the intersection between traditional painting and artificial intelligence. Rather than viewing artificial intelligence as a replacement for human creativity, they approach it as a new creative and collaborative tool – one that opens up alternative ways of seeing, thinking and perceiving reality. Through this evolving dialogue between art and technology, their practice continues to expand, connecting decades of experience with new possibilities for the future.
For them, painting remains a lifelong path – one built through patience, trust and the belief that the act of creation itself has meaning.
Curator
Cristiana Ursache
Cristiana Ursache is a curator based in Iași, Romania. She holds a Bachelor’s and a Master’s degree in Art History from the “George Enescu” National University of Arts in Iași, where since 2023 she has been pursuing a PhD focused on curatorial practices in Romania after 2000 and teaches seminars in aesthetics and curatorial studies. Since 2022, she has been a curator at Artep Gallery. In 2023, she served as a cultural mediator for the Romanian Pavilion at the Venice Biennale and coordinated the cultural mediation program for the exhibition of artist Ștefan Câlția at Garrison Chapel in London. She has participated in study and research programs in Seville, Zürich, and Berlin, and has paticipated in residencies and fellowships in Iceland, Germany, and Argentina.